Attorney Eric Dinnocenzo has won or settled a number of cases, both large and small, on behalf of his clients. The following is a selection of some of the notable verdicts and settlements that he has obtained in different practice areas.

Insurance

Confidential settlement - woman who paid over 10 years of premiums for a cash-value life insurance policy which lapsed prior to the death of the insured.

$600,000 - a supplemental life insurance policy was recovered for a widow after the insurance company refused to pay.

$535,000 – total settlement for home and contents in fire insurance claim fully paid after the claim was initially disputed and investigated by the insurance company.

$500,000 - settlement for a widow and her two teenage children who were denied payment of a life insurance policy held by her husband on the grounds that he made a material misrepresentation by failing to disclose a history of hepatitis B in the application.

$150,000 - settlement of life insurance policy where the insurance company claimed that the policy lapsed for nonpayment of premiums.

$62,500 - a man changed the beneficiary of his life insurance policy from his wife to his long-time mistress only two days prior to his suicide. We pursued a difficult claim on behalf of the wife that the man was incompetent when he made the beneficiary change.

Coverage Provided - our client's auto insurance company refused to provide him with a defense, after he was sued for a motor vehicle accident, on the grounds that he provided late notice of the accident. After we filed suit against the insurance company, it settled the personal injury action brought against our client and also reimbursed him for our attorney's fees.

Construction Accidents

$2 million - settlement after winning summary judgment on Labor Law § 240(1) claim for a custodian at a New York City public school who fell from an A-frame ladder and suffered from lumbar injuries requiring a disc fusion surgery.

$1.25 million - settlement for a laborer who fell while descending an improperly secured ladder. He suffered from a skull fracture with bleeding in the brain resulting in mild cognitive impairments as well as herniations to his cervical and lumbar regions.

$850,000 - settlement after a bifurcated jury verdict in which liability was found 80/20 in favor of our 30-year old client, a demolition supervisor who was struck by a beam that he was removing from a building. He suffered a fractured femur that required the implantation of a metal rod.

$225,000 - judgment awarded to a painter who suffered a fractured calcaneus of his left foot caused from a fall from a defective scaffold.

Medical Malpractice

$2.6 million - settlement for a 44-year old man admitted to hospital who was not properly monitored and experienced a delay in performing bypass surgery, causing his condition to deteriorate and ultimately lead to a heart transplant.

$650,000 - settlement for a schoolteacher who had to undergo reconstruction of her intestines after her common bile duct was severed during a laparoscopic gallbladder surgery.

$600,000 - settlement for a 54-year old man who underwent shoulder replacement surgery that caused injury to his brachial plexus nerve in his left shoulder and arm.

Products Liability

$550,000 - settlement for a worker who suffered tendon injuries to his hand when it got caught in an improperly guarded envelope manufacturing machine.

$225,000 - settlement for a tow truck driver who had a Volvo roll over his hand when he used a towing eyelet to raise the vehicle onto a flat bed truck, the eyelet broke, and the vehicle rolled over his hand causing a fracture. There were difficult issues concerning comparative negligence, since the client put his hand behind the wheel when the vehicle began to roll.

Other Personal Injury

$1.8 million - judgment awarded for a claim of negligent security against a Manhattan nightclub on behalf of a man stabbed in the left thigh during an altercation with another patron. Our client underwent multiple operations and suffered from muscle loss and for walking requires the assistance of a cane.

$55,000 – settlement for a nurse who tripped and fell in a hospital waiting room and suffered a fractured elbow.

$16,500 - settlement for a man with soft tissue injuries to his neck and back after a minor car accident

Whistleblower Retaliation

Confidential settlement

Tenant Cases

$250,000 - settlement for a child who lived in a Brooklyn apartment and suffered from lead poisoning resulting in cognitive impairments. The landlord was uninsured and challenged that these impairments were caused by a pre-existing diagnosis of autism before the elevated lead levels were discovered.

$15,000 - wrongful eviction of woman who resided in public housing.

$10,000 - settlement in a housing discrimination case for a family that contacted a real estate agent about a rental apartment in Brooklyn and was told by the agent that the landlord refused to rent to families with children.

$5,000 - rent abatement for tenant who suffered bad conditions in her apartment such as lack of heat, no stove/oven, and bedbugs.